"Right got it, no asking nicely to people," he recited amusedly, "Shall I just hold them at gun point and demand a direction then?" Caleb was pretty sure that, that would just get him a direction straight to the holding cells on base. The part of the base that he didn't plan on seeing any time soon, to be honest, not unless he could help it any way.

He smiled at that, he knew the kind of military men she was referring to, he'd met a couple himself and although he was trained to get along with them - mainly cause most of them were of higher rank than him - it still irked him that they were like that. He got that it was a difficult job at times and there was times that he himself ended up when on a job like that, but it didn't mean you had to be like it all the time.

"I could always be like that if you want?" he asked, he already knew what the answer would be. "Of course I much prefer laying here, you jabbing me with things and me flirting with you. Much better past time right?" Yeah he probably wouldn't call half of what he did his best flirting ever, but it had been fun and amusing to do, something that if they continued to be friends he didn't want to be giving up any time soon.

Caleb could only nod and agree as she mentioned the homesickness being a crappy thing to feel, he could only do that, he had no other words really to add to the mix without dredging it all up for both of them again. He might actually be starting to like Claire as a friend, but he wasn't quite ready to divulge his deep dark secrets, not yet.

He couldn't help chuckling as Claire mentioned the warning being put out for him, "Honestly, that warning went out the moment I stepped off the plane." There was nothing like a little bit of joking when he bragged about himself, the fact of the matter was, he didn't take himself to seriously which people seemed to like about him. Helped him come across as a friendlier person as well, just a friendly person that could kill you quite swiftly.

"See now is that a trick question?" he asked, when she mentioned about not being able to go anywhere he was. "I'll be on my best behaviour just for you Doctor, how does that sound?"

He looked from the empty water cup back to Claire, he could go for something tastier, but caffeine was going to keep him awake longer whilst on the good drugs. Nodding his head to himself he answered, "I'll stick with water, mainly because I know this time of night the alcohol is all gone." He sniffed up at that as though the thought of all the alcohol gone was the most tragic thing he'd heard all night.

"Still stoned," grinned Claire. She put on a mock "simple explanation" tone. "They'll only bite if you ask them nicely...". She shrugged at Caleb. "So I guess if that floats your boat, you'd better be brushing up on your manners!" Sure, most people on base were nice enough, but his sense of humour was bound to rub some up the wrong way. There were some real arseholes around, especially those who were drunk on their own petty sense of self importance.

Claire shot Caleb a threatening glance. "You ever get like that, and any chance of ever coming out for a drink with me, whether with others or not, goes down the shitter," she chuckled. From the way that Caleb was acting, though, she didn't think that he would ever be capable being the stereotypical military hardass that was all too common at the SGC. Good thing, too. They were all too far up their own arses to see the daylight.

One more quiet sigh, little more than a slow breath let out through her nostrils, and Claire tucked her homesickness away. She didn't mean to burden Caleb, a man she had only just met, with it, but it had just slipped out. She had been caught offguard by a man who was so different from the norm at the SGC, and it had felt like she was talking to an old friend. Friends would be good.

"Get over yourself, mate," she chuckled, shaking her head. "One day, a woman's going to come along who'll steal your heart completely, and then where will you be? You're only human, just like the rest of us." Actually, she'd quite like to see that day come. Caleb seemed to be quite the ladies' man, and it was always amusing to see a player brought to his knees.

Claire grinned. "Not a trick question, just a statement of fact," she replied, her voice teasing. "I bet that wherever you go, trouble follows right behind, right?" Caleb seemed like the kind of man who, while not going looking for trouble, probably attracted - well, if not trouble, at least chaos. "Behaving sounds great. Don't want to get us chucked out of the pub, do you?"

"Water it is," she said, taking the cup from him, and refilling it, taking one for herself. "Now, do you need something to help you sleep once you've eaten, or do you think that you'll be able to drift off by yourself?"

Okay so yes he might have misheard or at least misunderstood what she meant, he smiled at her sweetly, "Okay so I will ask them nicely, then, who knows who'll take up the offer to bite," Caleb was being silly. He put it down to all the drugs coursing in his system, but it was fun, he liked being silly at times and he actually quite enjoyed being silly at Claire.

"Pft you don't know what you're talking about, I shall have you know madam I have perfect manners and I am a perfect gentlemen," the very, very put on upper Englishman voice he added was completely ruined by the fact he couldn't hold it very well nor could he keep a straight face. As soon as he finished saying it, he end up laughing, then wincing because he was laughing so much he was causing his skin to pull at the neat stitches the lovely Doctor had just put in him.

Resting a hand over the wound, he quietened down, it had been a long time since he'd been able to laugh and joke with a woman like he was doing. Whether some of that was down to the pain medication running through his system, or the fact that Claire just reminded him of himself, what ever it was - he didn't want to put a name to it - he was beginning to see Claire as a friend. If the drugs in his system had anything to say about it, he'd end up being completely candied with the woman and end up with a best friend, but he wasn't quite there yet. He had never really had a close female friend before.

"Nope, not gonna be happening any time soon," he replied in her response about a woman sweeping him off his feet. He honestly thought he'd had that once upon a time, but his job had happened and although they had broken up amicably, he'd still been hurt. That was actually the time he could pin point when he started having his one night stands, no attachments meant not getting hurt and having more fun. "Besides variety is the spice of life and all that."

He made a point of looking around the infirmary as though he was looking for someone, before he leant towards her slightly, looking for all the world completely serious, until he spoke that was. "I never go looking for trouble, but Trouble finds me, all the time. I can share a secret with you right, doctor patient confidentially and all that?" he didn't wait for answer before he was continuing on. "I am innocent in all of this, completely innocent."

He waited a breath before smiling once more, chuckling slightly before leaning back against the pillows again. It might have actually been fun talking to Claire and he did appreciate everything that had been done to him and that she was offering to get food brought down for him, he really did appreciate it. But it was still tiring getting injured and having to be stitched up, the adrenalin was always pumping at the time, but now, now he was tired and he couldn't quite stop the yawn that escaped him.

"I think I'll be just fine to sleep," he said, smiling at her, "If there is one thing I refuse it's sleeping tablets of any kind. Thank you though for patching me up and you know for all the other stuff as well." He winked at her, but he was completely sincere over what he meant, not many people could put up with his flirting, Claire had been the first person he'd come across on base that not only could put up with it, but gave it him right back just as good.

"Likes... to... be... bitten," Claire said slowly, writing on Caleb's chart at the time. She glanced up, tossing him a grin. "That on your dogtags, is it?" She looked down for a second at his bare chest. He really did have a great body. However, her eyes were drawn to the ugly red gash on his side, held together with stitches. "Let me get a dressing on that, okay?" She didn't wait for an answer, instead reaching for a thin gauze pad and some zinc oxide tape, expertly covering the wound and taping the pad in place.

Claire arched an eyebrow. "Manners, my arse," she snorted, shaking her head. "I'll tell you something. If us Kiwis weren't made of sterner stuff, I'd have run a mile tonight." And it was true. In New Zealand, the boundaries seemed less strict than in most other countries, especially the USA, although she couldn't say the same for the UK.

Claire couldn't help laughing herself at that reproachment, especially as Caleb's hand went to the wound site. "Don't bloody mess with it," she said, her voice stern. "I don't want you back in here needing it restitched." A beat of silence, and a shrug. "Social calls are welcome, though." She could really see herself becoming friends with this man.

"Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say," she grinned. Tama, her ex, had been one of those blokes who swore they were immune to the charms of one woman, and then they had met. He had remained faithful for a couple of years, at least, and then... well, he went back to his old ways. She really had fallen for a twat. "Sometimes, though... well, there's something to be said for sticking with just the one person." Despite Tama's infidelity, Claire hadn't soured on the idea of being with just one man. She had just happened to choose the wrong one.

Claire rolled her eyes, shaking her head with a wide smile in place. "Innocent, sure," she replied, her tone utterly disbelieving. "Wherever you go, the shit follows, I reckon." She might be wrong, but she had the feeling that she'd be seeing Caleb in the infirmary on a regular basis.

She gave a mock sigh. "Much as I like the sight of your naked torso, I think I'd better get you something to wear while you're in here," she said, heading for a small supply closet, and grabbing a set of scrubs. She tossed them at the bed when she was still several feet away. "These should fit, and it'll be a lot less embarrassing than one of those fucking surgical gowns." She figured he wouldn't want everyone in the infirmary getting a good look at his arse, fine though it was.

"You're welcome," she replied, smiling at his thanks. "You're one of the better patients I've had to deal with over the last few weeks." She meant it, too. There hadn't been many people at the SGC she had been that chatty with, and it had made a nice change to be able to banter back and forth. "Can I get you anything else before someone gets here with your sandwich? Well, aside from drawing your curtains to let you change in peace."

Caleb eyed Claire suspiciously as she seemed to write down what she was saying out loud, "You can always check my tags if you want? Means you'd have to get in close and look though, am wounded and Doctors ordered me not to move." And the flirting was back, but well he wasn't about to pass up on the chance of being able to flirt more with her.

Besides the serious stuff was over with now, he had been stitched up, prodded in the arse twice - which he still wasn't convinced she didn't enjoy - and rolled over what felt like ten times. His body was feeling bruised enough, but he knew he was out of the woods for now at least or until his next misadventure out to another world. He was sure that would make a good line for a cheesy sci fi novel, if only he had the time to write.

He looked mocked outraged at her comment about his manners, a hand went to his chest as though he was in pain, "You wound me deeply Doctor Te Atua and here was me thinking you were one of the nice ones," he said, trying desperately to keep a straight face and failing miserably at it. He knew that people often took offence to, well to his 'manners' as it were, but he always adjusted how he was to act once he had accidentally offended someone. It was just with Claire he hadn't needed to do that, it was a strange thing, that was for sure.

That was when the serious Doctor side of her appeared again, after he had finished laughing and she had pushed his hand away from the site. He wasn't going to mess with it, well he had ever good intention not to mess with the site, and as for laughing, well that he definitely couldn't stop at all. It just wasn't in his nature.

His smile softened a fraction as he replied, "Social calls I can do, of course I can also do the other kind of calls, as soon as I get my hands on a phone I'll give you my number. You can call me any time of day or night then," and the softened smiled turned into a flirting one. Well at least he tried for at least a few seconds, right?

Caleb didn't quite know what to respond to when Claire made her comment about sticking with one person forever more, he just spared her a look, "Been there, done that," he muttered before looking away from her. He had done the one woman thing, had been fully committed to that relationship and everything, he wasn't going to do it again, if ever.

He was glad when the conversation moved back on to him supposedly being 'innocent', the smile came back full force and he was prepared to forget the previous part of their conversation. "Hey, I'll have you know, it's not my fault that women just happen to fight over me, maybe it's just my mysterious ways about me. If I'd met you in a bar, am pretty sure I wouldn't be the only one in the bed right now."

Actually he was pretty damn sure that if he had met Claire in a bar, or anywhere, he would have the same wound in his side, would be still getting stitched up, with one difference he would have alcohol in his hair after she had tipped it over him. That was the kind of outcome he would expect from trying to pick Claire up, now that he thought about it, he was kind of glad he met her this way, it had been a long time since he'd had a female friend.

Caleb smiled his thanks as she tossed him the scrubs, it took a moment or two to pull the top over his head, at least he wasn't still sat around in blood soaked clothing, that was highly unappealing to him, they fit just.

He levered himself back down onto the bed, "Embarrassing? Honestly you're just worried that your nurses wouldn't get anything done with me laying around half naked." he said.

"You're welcome," he said quietly, "Nothing else, I'll change into the bottoms and then grab some shut eye, what time do you leave for the night?" He was going to make a point of trying to come by next time she was on shift so that he could bring her a drink of coffee as thanks, that was if he could ever remember the way from the infirmary to the mess and back again that was.

"And if I'm longsighted, I can read your tags from here," Claire said crisply, her grin belying her brusque tone. "Maybe you should have 'incurable flirt' engraved on them, too." She could see all sorts of shenanigans down the line with the women of the base if Caleb flirted like this with everyone."

Claire cleared up the last of the equipment, binning the disposables and wrapping everything else for the autoclave. She couldn't help but return Caleb's grin. "Oh, that's a shame, I'm usually better known for patching up wounds than causing them," she chuckled, shaking her head. "And is any doctor every truly 'nice'?" She was teasing him now.

The bright flirtiness of Caleb's smile softened for a moment, and Claire returned it with one of warmth and sincerity. "That sounds good," she said. She knew how hard she had found it to start making friends in the first few days at the SGC, and didn't want Caleb to have to go through the same. That being said, he seemed like the kind of bloke who would naturally draw people to him anyway. Then the serious moment disappeared, and Caleb returned to flirting.

"The only time I'd be calling you, e hoa, would be to kick your arse for skipping out on a checkup," she laughed, shaking her head. "You just don't know when to quit, do you?"

A shadow flickered across Claire's face for a moment. "Been there, done it too," she said, her voice a little quieter, a little smaller. "Still doesn't mean I don't believe in love. though." And that was as far as she wanted to go into that conversation, especially with someone who was, essentially, a complete stranger.

In fact, Claire firmly believed in love, and being able to spend your life with one person. She just hadn't chosen wisely last time, and, as such, had spent the last four years licking her wounds and trying to move on from Tama. She had learned a bvery costly lesson from him, and it would take someone very special indeed to pique her interest again.

And anyone with classical good looks - such as Caleb - need not apply.

Tama had soured her on good-looking men once and for all, especially men who knew they were good-looking. Caleb had the confidence and flirtiness that Tama had had in spades, and it was all too sharp a parallel for her liking. Still, he did have the kind of sense of humour that she liked in her friends, so keeping things platonic would be no problem at all.

Claire laughed as Caleb asked whether the nurses would get distracted if he didn't get dressed. "I was thinking more that I would get distracted," she chuckled, shaking her head. "You're not that irresistible, you know." Yeah, definitely had tickets on himself. Some of the nurses would definitely enjoy the view. "Nah, it can get quite chilly in here at night, so just want to make sure you're warm enough."

She glanced up as Caleb asked her what time she was on shift until, and Claire stifled a yawn. "My actual shift finished at midnight, but I'm the on call surgeon until eight. Then I get to crash for a bit, and back on shift again at four." She hated the week of late shift and on call, but, as Janet's deputy, she felt she ought to set an example. If the other surgeons were expected to do the shifts, then there was no reason that she shouldn't do the shifts as well.

The phone on the wall rang, and Claire grinned at Caleb. "Just a sec," she said, picking up the handset. she nodded once. "Okay, thanks, I'll be here," she said, putting it back and turning back to Caleb. "Your food'll be here in a few minutes, if you're still hungry. In the meantime, do you want any magazines or anything to keep you entertained?" She was sure she could rustle up a few from somewhere.

"See now I think you're just being mean or you're afraid that if you get to close you'll not be able to resist my charm?" he asked cheekily. He was actually worried that if she did get closer to look at his tags then she would end up jabbing him with a sedative just to get him to go to sleep for a bit. His imagination tended to go on overdrive a bit when he was on the good pain medication, and maybe feeling a little bit sleepy now as well.

He continued to smile at her, as he said, "Now if you look closely, you'll see," here he took hold of the tags round his neck, the metal clanking together slightly, before pointing out an imaginary line underneath his rank. "Just there, it says exactly them words, you just got to look carefully."

"Oh is that what your reputation is, stitching up better than wounding," he commented lightly, as though everything made sense then.

He had to admit that although Claire said she wasn't one of the nice ones, she was actually the nicest doctor he had ever met, most of the ones on the Subs he had served on were military ordained.

Which didn't really give them over to being compassionate unless you were pretty much bleeding out on the table in front of them, he also didn't have much pleasant memories of them from when he was a kid. He figured, after he had spent the last few minutes just holding his tags out in his hand, sort of staring at her, that maybe it was a New Zealander thing, they made nicer doctors over there.

The acceptance of his offer to drop by on social calls was kind of nice. He realised that he actually didn't know that many people on base and most of the people he did know where his COs who were more interested in pushing his skill set, knowing what he could do and making sure he followed orders.

For now he had managed all of them, it was a new job after all, he didn't quite like giving the wrong impression straight away.

He put on an innocent look, well as innocent as he got, before saying, "Now really, you've known me for a good few hours now, Doctor, do I strike you as the type to miss check ups?"

There actually had been one time when that had happened, he hadn't actually been that badly injured, it was more a matter of stitches had needed to come out and well there had been a dog fight on ship. In all the haste to make sure everyone was where everyone should have been, it might have slipped his mind, but he had gone straight to medical the minute he remembered.

Caleb knew that the military had ideas of them not needed to visit a Doctor, but he had never really thought along them lines, if he was injured he was out of commission, being out of commission meant he didn't work. He liked working, so if he had to come to an infirmary tell them he was suffering from hay fever, he was at least 80 percent chance that was what he would be doing.

"Nope, my mum use to call me stubborn, pretty sure I got it from my dad," he said. It was told in a light-hearted way, but he did realise that he had just revealed a bit of his own past to this complete stranger, who just happened to flirt back to him. Although he didn't actually tell if they were alive, just that he had, had grown up with both parents.

It was weird, he had promised himself that he wouldn't really divulge much information about himself to people on base, nothing too serious. Mainly just the surface stuff, like the comment about his parents, but he was beginning to realise that - after learning what the job entailed - it might not be as simple as keeping things more to himself. He was going to possibly have to trust someone.

Then Claire brought up love and Caleb denied to answer, he thought he had been in love all them years ago. Had thought that, that was it, that was what a relationship looked like, but it hadn't been, it was a fake and now when he took a moment to look back on it - which was not all that often he did - he wondered if he had ever been in love. Or was it just the notion of loving someone that he had, had, he just didn't know.

So he stuck to his one night stands, there was no trail of broken hearts left behind because everyone understood what it meant. There was no messy business of feelings and him being away at sea too long, because he took one night out of a busy schedule and scratched an itch that needed to be tended to. No he wasn't going to comment on love, because by the sound of it, he knew Claire still wanted to believe in love and he didn't want to sour that with his opinions for her, he wasn't that cruel.

"That is not what I've been told," he said, that trying-to-hard-to-look-innocent look back on his face, "I mean sometimes you should hear what people say to me, but if you think it's for the best I'll stay wrapped up. Wouldn't want to catch a cold now would I?"

That was when he felt a bit crappy, when she mentioned that she had been on shift for most of the night, he hadn't realised he figured they had just woken someone up to come patch him up and there he was chatting her up like there was no tomorrow. He had probably kept her awake more than was needed, sometimes his mouth got the better of him, he went to apologise to her when she disappeared to take the phone call.

He leant his head back against the pillow for a moment, staring at the unpleasant looking ceiling, the first friend he had partially made and he was making her not only stitch him up - which yes he knew was part of her job - but also fetching him food - not part of her job - he definitely owed her a cup of coffee now. If not four or five.

Caleb pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind though as she came back over and asked, well probably the most open question she could to get him to respond with a flirty answer. It was almost too easy for him, he shouldn't take the opening, he knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help himself, he didn't have his reputation for nothing now.

"You could always keep me entertained? Unless you need to lay down, then there is plenty of space next to me, you'll sleep like a baby after I promise," he said, all wide smile, dirty grin and flirty nature firmly locked into place.

Claire rolled her eyes in an exaggerated fashion. "Nope, I was closer than that just now, if you recall," she chuckled. "I think I'm more than able to resist your charms, you're not thatcute." Maybe he was, to some women, but his blonde good looks did nothing for Claire. A little too tall, a little too lean, a little too fair. His dark eyes, though... well, yeah, she'd concede he had nice eyes. They were eyes that looked like they laughed a lot.

Snorting with laughter, Claire shrugged. "If my reputation wasn't like that, I'd be in real trouble," she replied. "After all, what bloody use is a surgeon who harms more than she heals?" As a surgeon, Claire had an exceptional record. It had taken hard work and dedication to rise to being amongst the top of her field, not only in New Zealand, but worldwide, and she hadn't done that by making mistakes and losing patients unnecessarily. Of course, she hadn't been able to save all of her patients - that was part and parcel of being an emergency surgeon - but she had at least given them a fighting chance if she could.

"So am I to expect all sorts of visits from you, then," she asked, her tone infinitely amused. "And the more I get to know you, Caleb, the more I'm convinced I'm going to have to get security to drag your arse in here for checkups! Maybe if I sweeten the deal with a cuppa, you'll be more willing to make sure you're in good health." It was hardly a bribe, but if it would help get Caleb to come down to the infirmary to check up on his wound, it was all to the good.

Claire laughed again, fixing Caleb with a challenging look. "Stubborn? I can believe that! So she only used to call you stubborn? What changed her mind?" After a second, Claire realised that she might well have put her foot in it. Perhaps Caleb's mum was dead. She waited for his reaction before deciding whether or not to try to dig herself out of it.

"My mum always called me 'Little Miss Fix-It'," she grinned, offering up a little snippet about herself. "When I was a kid, I used to pretend to operate on my sisters, which didn't always go down too well." At least she had a better success rate now than then!

She didn't miss the look on Caleb's face as she mentioned she still believed in love, and the fact that he declined to comment. Well, that was his prerogative. It sounded as though he had had a bad experience that had soured him, but it wasn't her place to pry. Of course, she had had her own rough time, and she wasn't about to spill her guts either. Tama was something she rarely talked about with anyone, much less a complete and utter stranger.

"Easy there, soldier," Claire admonished him, but not without a sparkle of amusement in her eyes. "A little bit of modesty wouldn't go amiss, you know!" While there were an awful lot of women who would quite easily fall for the man on the bed in front of her, she wasn't one of the ones who would appreciate his particular brand of charm. "And unless you want to be back in here within a few days with that aforementioned cold, you'd best keep warm, don't you think?"

She shot Caleb a weary smile, brushing her fringe back from her eyes. Obviously, Janet's emergency had been a little more serious than anticipated, and seeing as she was the only physician on duty at the moment, she wasn't going to leave Caleb unattended.

Claire twitched her eyebrows upwards as Caleb offered to let her share his bed. "Not a chance, e hoa," she chuckled, although she did take a seat on the edge of the bed, stretching her legs out in front of her, wriggling her toes in her trainered feet. "You couldn't keep up with me!" The returned grin was just as flirty and dirty. Two could play that game.

"Doc? Food's up," a voice called, and a young Airman rounded the corner, tray in hands, with two plated sandwiches, two bags of crisps, and a hot chocolate. "Don't worry about bringing the tray back tonight, doc, I trust you not to run off with it!" Leaving it on the side next to Caleb's bed, the Airman disappeared as quickly as he had arrived.

Claire stood again, checking the sandwiches. One club, which was Caleb's, and one chicken salad. She passed him the club sandwich and a bag of crisps. "That do you for now?"

"Nope, nope don't remember that all, maybe you should do that check again, this time I'll commit it to memory," he said tilting his head to the side and smiling up at her. Yeah this line of flirting wasn't going to get him anywhere in the long run, actually none of his flirting with Claire was going to get him anywhere, but it was fun.

It was strange to him that the flirting he was currently doing, was not going to lead anywhere, he wasn't going to end up in the morning have sore, stretched and sated muscles. It was just a nice pleasant hum at the back of his mind, that he could continue up this flirting and it wasn't going to go anywhere.

Yes he appreciated that she was a very lovely looking lady, he wouldn't say she was his type because well he didn't really have a type. Maybe he had, years ago, when he'd first broken things off with Rachael he'd gone for women who looked like her, but as he realised he didn't want to settle down and he was happy doing what he was doing. He for lack of a better word, he broadened his horizons.

"A very, very world dominating one," Caleb answered carefully, but his voice was filled with humour as he said it. He knew for a fact that if all the doctors in the world suddenly decided to take over the planet, they wouldn't get no resistance from anyone, hell he was pretty sure that even the Goa'uld would end up not wanting to try to take Earth. They'd just leave it in the hands of all the psycho Doctors running around.

When she mentioned about making a deal with him, he was intrigued at first no one had actually tried to ever blackmail him to come to the infirmary before, then she mentioned the magic words. Words that since arriving in America had become something that often more times than the little filled him with dread rather than warmth. Tea.

He was sure his eyes were comically wide as he asked, "As in a cuppa tea? Like boiled in a kettle, milk, sugar, the proper cup of tea way? Or is this just some other cruel trick that you want to pull on the poor sick British newbie. That's it isn't it, you want to haze the new guy." He really would give anything for a proper cup of tea, it just probably wasn't going to happen any time soon.

"Oh nothing changed her mind," he answered, smiling at her, "She still thinks am stubborn, now she just shakes her head in that exasperated motherly way they have. It's just a given nowadays that the stubborn is implied."

That reminded him that he was going to have to contact his family soon, let them know in as much as he could, about his new job. That he was actually now stationed on land and not floating around the sea in big metal box as his mother had once said. He was sure that would get some curious questions put his way, and he was going to have to come up with some creative ways of explaining everything, without telling them anything. Or maybe he'd take the risk tell them everything, they wouldn't believe him anyway, his dad would tell him to stop watching late night films and if he couldn't stop making things up to appease them he should stop speaking altogether.

Caleb laughed at the mental picture of a young girl Claire playing Doctor with her sisters, somehow in his mind her sisters all looked like her, "I don't have siblings, use to fix cars with my dad though." Again with the telling a stranger personnel things about himself, he shifted uncomfortably on the bed slightly, he wasn't going to do that, wasn't going to exchange pasts with someone. He was meant to be the stoic military man, here to do a job with no strings attached to anyone.

He smiled once more at she told him to be modest, he wasn't modest, okay he didn't go around bragging about himself either, but if he found himself without a shirt on he was comfortable enough in himself to not have to worry about covering up. So yes he guessed some people would class that as bragging, but he didn't think it was. He just shrugged with his one good side, he really didn't want to be pulling his stitches, as he settled back onto the bed.

That was when Claire joined him on the bed and he was surprised, okay she was only perched on the side of the bed with a leg up, he was tempted to touch the leg. Letting that normal flirting nature take over, the one that would lead him to maybe instead of just touching caressing, but he didn't. Something held him back, and as he glanced at Claire, he realised he didn't want to sleep with her, he wanted to flirt like crazy sure, but he didn't want to sleep with her.

Before he got chance to say anything though, she was up off the bed to collect the sandwich and crisps from the airmen who had arrived. He nodded his thanks to the airmen who had delivered the food, he appreciated it really he did, as Claire deposited the tray across his lap.

"See now that's not fair, they don't trust me to bring the tray back and yet there you go, getting special treatment," he commented lightly, unwrapping the sandwich and taking a bite.

Before swallowing the piece of bread he commented, "Thanks yeah that'll do me for now, it's been a pleasure, Doctor."

Claire mock-glared at Caleb. "Maybe I ought to be running some tests for your memory," she grinned, shaking her head at him. "I can remind you if you like." She nodded towards his side. "I can tell you how many moles and freckles you have within a six-inch radius of your wound, if you want?" In that respect, she probably knew that part of Caleb's body better than he did. "Us surgeons like to get up close and personal, you know."

"World dominating? Bloody hell, did I give you diamorphine by accident," she laughed. "If I wanted world domination, I'd have gone into genetics, e hoa!" A geneticist could wipe out certain portions of the world population with a simple virus. Claire couldn't do that, and had no desire to. She took the Hippocratic Oath one hundred percent seriously. She couldn't imagine ever wanting to violate it, no matter what.

Claire knew she had reeled him in with the offer of a "cuppa". Of course, she hadn't said cup of tea. For all she had known, he was a coffee drinker, so it had seemed prudent to keep her options open. "Boiled in a jug, yes. Milk, as much sugar as you like, proper cup of tea kind of thing." She twitched her eyebrows upwards. "Us Kiwis do know how to make a proper cuppa, you know. I can get you one now, if you like, so you can drink it with your sandwich?" Claire drank tea on occasion, but only with a cheese sandwich, and only if it was sweet, milky tea. Builder's tea, the Brits called it.

Smiling quietly as Caleb explained about his mum. It was nice to be making a connection with someone, even this tentatively. She hadn't really talked about her family with anyone at the SGC, partly because had hadn't felt that comfortable with anyone else, but also because of the homesickness it usually invoked. Caleb's flirtation, along with her playful rebuttal of it, meant that Claire had opened up more than she might normally have done.

Yeah, this bloke was well on his way to becoming a mate.

"Your dad reckon you're a stubborn bugger too," she asked, her eyebrows slightly raised. "Truth is, my family all think I'm stubborn too." And maybe they were right. Claire was singularly driven in her career, never settling for anything less than what she felt was the right thing for her patients. If that made her stubborn, or, on occasion a "ballbreaking bitch", then so be it. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind, and, sometimes, it had gotten her into a little hot water. However, it was never without good reason, and Claire stood beside every decision she made.

Claire shot Caleb a small, apologetic look. "Sorry, you don't have to talk about yourself if you don't want to," she said, backtracking and swallowing back the comment about wondering what it would have been like to grow up an only child. It had been so refreshing to relax in Caleb's company that she hadn't considered she might be prying into areas he might not want to share.

Caleb looked somewhat surprised as Claire perched on the edge of the bed, and she wondered whether she had overstepped the mark. She was so used to sitting on the edge of the bed when she had child patients that it was a habit that had carried over to her adult patients as well. She didn't get a chance to apologise, and the decision on whether to get up was made for her when the food arrived.

"Some of us earn the right to return the tray," she remarked, a grin etching itself on her lips. "Usually, it's because they know us poor sods who are on call in the infirmary are doing a week of, effectively, sixteen hour shifts, with rarely a chance to see home." In fact, Claire had spent more nights sleeping at the SGC than she had at her new apartment. She couldn't wait to get onto single shifts again the following week.

About to sit down on Caleb's bed again, he took a bite of his sandwich, and, effectively dismissed her. She smiled, picking up her plate and crisps, capturing the corner of the packet between her teeth, and grabbing the hot chocolate. "Pleasure to meet you too, Caleb," she mumbled around the bag of crisps. "And... it's Claire."